Homelessness is a significant problem in Fargo/Moorhead that directly affects the lives of hundreds of area residents and indirectly affects the entire community. National Hunger and Homeless Awareness Week is November 12 through 18 and the Fargo Moorhead Coalition for the Homeless, along with MSUM and most of the area’s service agencies that work with the homeless have a full week of activities planned to help illuminate the obstacles faced by people who are homeless and to raise funds for the agencies that strive to help victims of homelessness overcome these obstacles.
There is much that government does to combat homelessness, and there is a movement across the nation to get business more involved in the problem. Before looking at what local business and government are doing in our area and what still needs to be done, it is helpful to take a closer look at the local implications of the problem.
According to the Wilder survey conducted in 2003, there are approximately 400 homeless people in Fargo/Moorhead on any given night. Sixty percent are in Fargo. Of these 400, there are 126 men, 87 women and 79 children who are in emergency shelters. The remaining 69 men, 17 women and 15 children are unsheltered. As disturbing as these statistics are—especially those concerning children—they may not represent the entire picture. According to Cheri Rasmussen, director of Youthworks, the number of homeless youth may be much greater. Although she does not have numbers specific to Fargo, she points out that in 2004 and 2005 Youthworks had nearly 7,000 contacts with homeless and at-risk youth in Fargo/Moorhead and Bismarck/Mandan, the two communities where Youthworks offers services to homeless youth. It is difficult to track how many of these are duplications, but her numbers suggest that the problem is larger than what has been identified.
Rasmussen emphasizes, “[These youth] have had to flee from unlivable situations.” She points out “[unaccompanied] youth cannot stay in the shelters, so they are literally on the street.” Such dire conditions inspire creativity in our homeless children. Rasmussen says, “They are pretty ingenious about couch hopping.” I operate the Clay Wilkin Homeless Prevention and Assistance Program and can attest to her contentions. I have had at least one client that made a temporary home of an MSUM computer lab. The point is that homeless youth are usually on the run, are mistrustful of authority, and are not likely to turn up in shelters unless their entire family is homeless—making it difficult to accurately count their numbers.
Many of our homeless are chemically dependant, mentally ill, physically or developmentally disabled, or a combination of any of the above. Those who have multiple diagnoses are more likely to be chronically or long term homeless.
A disproportionate number are veterans or people of color or single mothers.
Government at the local, state and federal levels is heavily invested in the issue of homelessness. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) funds many programs to combat homelessness through a process called the continuum of care that is designed to move people from homelessness to transitional housing to permanent housing (supported or non-supported) The goal is for this process to be seamless—which it is not. Lack of funding for services and a shortage of low-income housing units create gaps and bottlenecks in the system where people either fall through the cracks or get jammed up in the system and fail to progress.
At the state level, government funds programs designed to house the homeless and to prevent at-risk families from becoming homeless. Such programs, like the Family Homeless Prevention and Assistance Program (FHPAP) that I operate (as an employee of Lakes and Prairies Community Action Partnership) in Clay and Wilkin counties are also under-funded and under-staffed. Many of these programs meet only a small percentage of the identified need.
On the local level, many communities are devising (under federal urging) 10-year plans to end chronic homelessness. Fargo recently unveiled its 10-year plan and United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) executive director, Philip Mangano, came from Washington DC to participate in the press conference. Moorhead is moving in the same direction. Mangano characterized the plan as “very smart and very sophisticated,” drawing on proven practices from around the nation. Mangano emphasized the need for business to be involved in the homeless problem. “We need business not just for their dollars, but for their mindset. When service providers look at homelessness they look at how to service the problem—when business looks at a problem like homelessness they look at how to solve the problem.”
Fargo’s ten-year plan provides opportunities for the FM business community to become involved. The plan calls for “185 private sector housing units to be made available to long-term homeless tenants with landlord risk mitigation techniques in place, including Indemnification Fund.” 12 new safe haven units and 30 new supportive housing units are needed. Landlords and developers alike have a role to play in ending tong-term homelessness.
The plan also calls for outreach to the homeless to be more effective. One problem is that services are disjointed and not seamless and need to be better connected. Toward this goal the plan recommends the adoption of Project Homeless Connect (PHC) as a best practices standard. PHC began in San Francisco under Mayor Gavin Newsome as a one stop event to connect homeless residents with services. The event is sponsored by the business community and services are delivered by area service agencies. The result has been that not only are the homeless connected with services, but the agencies become better connected with each other, and the business community becomes connected to the problem as well. To date, 32 communities (including Duluth and Minneapolis/St. Paul) across the nation have adopted PHC. Both Mayor Walaker and Mayor Voxland have made a commitment with the Fargo Moorhead Coalition for Homeless Persons to implement PHC in the FM area.
Another way in which local business is addressing homelessness is by partnering with service providers. Dave Anderson of The Downtown Community Partnership is working with Carol Kulesza of the Fargo Moorhead Coalition for the Homeless to establish sponsorships of agencies by businesses during Hunger and Homeless Awareness Week. Participating businesses will “adopt” an agency of their choice and devise a fund raising promotion during the week with the agency (and their homeless clients) being the beneficiaries of the promotion.
So we see many ways in which business and government can work together to combat homelessness, but why should they? Compassion should be an adequate answer, but if businesses responded to every request for help out of compassion, many would soon find themselves out of business. Economics is a better reason. Philip Mangano describes a study done in San Diego where researchers tracked the services used by one homeless man, “million dollar Murray.” Over time, “Murray” consumed a million dollars in emergency services, and was in no better condition than he was originally. San Diego could have bought “Murray” a home and provided a servant for less cost. On the other hand, when “Murray” was placed into a housing first program, where “Murray’s” housing needs were addressed first, “Murray” was better able to address his obstacles (chemical dependency, mental illness etc.) He consumed fewer services and eventually became a productive member of society—a considerable savings over seemingly endless emergency room visits, police calls, emergency shelters and food pantries.
Gary Groberg, director of Churches United for the Homeless, agrees. He points out that six of the ten new tenants in the Clay County Housing and Redevelopment Authority’s new supportive housing units are already employed. These are people with disabilities who have been long-term homeless. Groberg reports, “The change occurs when there is good support. People take ownership of their lives and their problems.”
Please email your thoughts, comments, questions or criticisms to Michael at mmelon15@hotmail.com
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